We bought our first motorhome, a Class "C", about 5 years ago to see if we would like the RV lifestyle. We found out in short order that we loved it! In fact, we decided we wanted to full time when we retire in about 6 years.

About 6 months ago we began looking for what we thought was our "next" motorhome and we wanted to move up to a Class "A" diesel pusher. We were looking for a good used unit around 10-15 years old. We looked at a lot of Class "A's" (Monaco, Safari, etc.) in that age range, but there was so much plastic in them, and they just didn't "wear" well. Most were already getting thread bare and in need of having the wood refinished, and couches, chairs reupholstered.

A few weeks ago (February 5th) I stumbled across a 1982 Newell 36' diesel pusher on Craig's List down in the Palm Springs area. I had never even heard of Newell before. It was much older than I wanted, but the pictures really looked great. It happened we were going to a wedding in the area that weekend, and made arrangements to see the unit. Well, needless to say, we fell in love with this Newell immediately. The asking price was very fair. We were the first to see it, but within the next few days there was a line forming of interested people. So we pulled our finances together and bought it officially on March 1st! Instead of finding our "next" motorhome, we found our last motorhome!

The more we get to know our Newell the more we fall in love with it. The attention to detail, and workmanship are amazing. It has 103,000 miles on a DD 6V92 wtih no oil leaks, has a washer/dryer, oversized queen pedestal bed, and too many other features to itemize now. It was garaged in a climate controlled garage for the first 24 years of it's life, and was only exposed to the elements the last 2 years.

I found this website when I was doing internet searches on Newell and registered even before we completed the purchase.

Clarke and Elaine

Richard and Rhonda

03-05-2008, 09:52 PM

Glad to have you. Congratulations on your new toy.

Most of us love to hear about other's DIY problems and fixes. Please post often. We are a small community but we can still learn from one another.

encantotom

03-06-2008, 12:20 AM

very cool coach. i just got mine last summer and love it too.

share your experiences and we will ours as well.

Welcome

Tom

Erika

03-06-2008, 06:59 AM

Welcome Clarke and Elaine!

Very Glad to have you on board with the rest of us Newell fanatics. A lot of folks stumble onto a Newell by accident, never having previous knowledge of their existense. This is due in part to the low volume of coaches the factory builds each year. I believe once you find or own a Newell, you will have a hard time ever owning another make.

Forum Admin :D

chockwald

03-06-2008, 03:54 PM

Thank you all for your warm welcome. We're still getting to know our new home away from home, and I'm sure we will be visiting here often to get answers to questions that come up from time to time.

There are so many neat features that we have come across since we arrived home last Sunday. One is that the gray and black tanks can be dumped from either side, and there is a macerator pump with outlets on each side also! Wow!

We knew the unit came with a Norcold refer in one of the basement areas, but we didn't know it also could be used as a freezer....."cool"!

The original owner installed a "Perm-A-Pub" liquor dispenser. You can attach up to 5 bottles of your favorites and then all you have to do is push a corresponding button and you've got an adult beverage and are ready to relax! While opening up the access area under the unit I found an unopened bottle of White Horse single malt scotch, an unopened bottle of Bombay Saphire Gin, and others! I know that's not a Newell feature, but what a neat surprise anyway!

Richard and Rhonda

03-06-2008, 04:35 PM

Thanks for listing the tandem. I used to have our CoMotion listed on our sig. One of the MUSTS for the Newell was that the tandem fit into a basement bay. It would have been a deal breaker had it not.

chockwald

03-14-2008, 03:11 PM

The more time I spend in and around our new coach the more impressed I am with the quality of materials, and workmanship. Everything literally works! I have only found one dead bulb...one of the bulbs illuminating the rear license plate. All running and marker lights works. All indicator lights on the instrument panel work. All house lights work! Discovered that there is a door bell! How cool is that?

Getting used to driving it around town in traffic, and parking it in the crowded storage yard.

I am the 3rd owner of this coach. The second owner spent 2 full days with the original owner 5 years ago taking notes on every switch, gauge, and system. He passed on to me his 73 pages of hand written notes which have been invaluable to us in familiarizing ourselves with how everything works, and the purpose of every gauge and switch! I've only waded through about 30 pages so far....lol!

fulltiming

03-14-2008, 09:04 PM

Welcome Clark and Elaine!!

It is truly amazing the quality that Newell has been building into their coaches for so many years.

The liquor dispenser sounds like a great addition.

You are certainly fortunate to have that 73 page document. If you ever get a chance to scan it, I would bet that there would be a lot of Newell owners that would love to see it, especially since Newell did not product owner's manuals at that time. If you don't have web space to host the document or would like someone else to take the scans and convert them into a pdf file, let me know and I help out and will put it on one of my sites and provide you the link.

Welcome to the world of Newell ownership. Certainly sounds like you got a well maintained specimen. We welcome your thoughts, comments, questions and answers as we all enjoy our Newells. Remember that any house, vehicle or motorcoach which is both will need on-going maintenance and upgrades. Those are part of the fun of owning a used coach.

chockwald

03-14-2008, 09:41 PM

I'm planning to type up his notes so they are more legible and coherent, and will be happy to convert them to a .pdf document for all to view. I'm sure that even though each Newell Classic has enique features ordered by each owner, that many of the notes will be pertinent for others.